Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. For long time it was considered as pure functional disorder, but in recent years, there were identified atrial locations, which are involved in the initiation and maintenance of this arrhythmia. These structural changes, so called remodelation, start at electric level and later they affect contractility and morphology. In...

Little is known about the long-term prognosis of or predictors for the different clinical types of atrial fibrillation (AF) in Korean populations. The aim of this study was to validate a risk stratification to assess the probability of AF progression from paroxysmal AF (PAF) to persistent AF (PeAF) or permanent AF. A total of 434 patients with PAF were consecutively enrolled (mean age; 71.7 ± 1...

Background Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) is used to evaluate fibrosis of the left atrium (LA) in subjects with atrial fibrillation (AF). LA fibrosis by LGE has been shown to correlate with LA volumes. However, within AF subjects, the association of mitral regurgitation (MR) with LA LGE is not well described. Pathological studies have demonstrated atrial fibrosis and tissue disorganization i...

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with increase in size of the left atrium (LA). Recent studies have shown that LA shape may be an earlier and independent marker of atrial remodeling in AF. However, previous studies have been limited to qualitative assessments of shape and parameters that do not fully characterize shape. In this study, we use an entropy-driven particle-based sha...

Background Left atrial (LA) radiofrequency (RF) ablation has become routine treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) but still suffers from AF recurrence requiring a repeat procedure. LA-RF ablation success rates vary between 53% and 85%. Delayed-enhancement Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (DE-CMR) can be used to noninvasively visualize LA hyperenhancement (scar). We have utilized DECMR to quantify LA...

BACKGROUND Omentin-1 is one of the adipokines associated with obesity, diabetes, and coronary heart disease development. We determined to investigate whether serum omentin-1 concentrations were correlated with the presence of atrial fibrillation (AF). MATERIAL AND METHODS Serum omentin-1 concentrations were examined in a cross-sectional population that included 220 patients with AF (70 with par...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in humans. Several risk factors promote AF, among which diabetes mellitus has emerged as one of the most important. The growing recognition that obesity, diabetes and AF are closely intertwined disorders has spurred major interest in uncovering their mechanistic links. In this article we provide an update on the growing ev...

E et al. Off-pump or on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting at 30 days. versus on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting for ischaemic heart disease. A meta-analysis of large randomized trials for mid-term major cardio-and cerebrovascular events following off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. Long-term follow-up of morbidity and mortality after aortic valve replacement with a ...

Congenital pericardial defects (CPDs) are infrequent anomalies that are usually asymptomatic and are discovered incidentally during unrelated interventions. Here we report the case of a CPD with herniation of an enlarged left atrial appendage identified during total thoracoscopic ablation (TTA) for persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). The persistent AF was successfully treated with a hybrid pro...

BACKGROUND Studies have demonstrated that catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation is associated with better rhythm control than drug therapy. The present study aimed to assess the clinical outcomes and health-related quality of life of ablation therapy in a real world setting. METHODS A prospective, non-randomized, single center study in a real-world clinical setting in China was conducted. ...